Our Military & Veterans

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Written by Al Eakle

For the second year in a row, Twin Cities Elks Lodge #2747 donated $2,500 from their Elks National Foundation Gratitude Grant to Healing Paws for Warriors, a local nonprofit organization based in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., that provides American Disabilities Act-certified canines to veterans. Mike Arena, co-founder and executive director, says, “We are devoted to helping our veterans and the pet overpopulation problem. Once a veteran is accepted into our program, they will be paired with a dog adopted from a local shelter. They will live together from that point forward.” Depending on the individual needs of the applicant, they train them with a certified service dog. A certified service dog is allowed, by law, to enter public places such as the veteran’s workplace, restaurants, buses, stores, etc. These are rights set forth in the ADA. “When a veteran and their dog are close to graduation, they will be asked to mentor incoming trainees to help them transition into our program,” said Arena. “We feel this is very beneficial to both the new trainee and experienced veteran. Once the dog is fully trained in the individual tasks, it will be certified as a service dog.”

Arena served more than 23 years as an Air Force medic. After numerous deployments, he was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). After his diagnoses and subsequent retirement, he heard of a program that paired service dogs with veterans. Shortly after graduating from the program, he regained his smile and received a new K9 partner, Orion. He now provides executive management and service dogs at no cost to combat-injured veterans for the non-profit organization. “As a program,” he added, “we continue to grow our veteran-founded, veteran-led rescue-to-trained ADA-certified service dog program for those faced with PTSD, TBI or military sexual trauma. Each of our dogs cost approximately $25,000 to rescue, house, medically care for, feed and train.”

Healing Paws for Warriors relies solely on the support of the community such as that provided by Elks. More information about the non-profit organization is available at healingpawsforwarriors.org. 

Twin Cities Lodge Exalted Ruler, Rick Woelfl, and House Committee chairman, Kathy Casey, present a $2,500 check to Mike Arena, co-founder and executive director of Healing Paws for Warriors.

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Written by Christine Horn

The veterans at the Douglas T. Jacobson State Veterans Nursing Home received new clothing, tennis shoes, shavers and personal care items from Rotonda Elks Lodge #2710. The lodge used $1,800 of the Elks National Foundation Freedom Grant for supplies and $200 for the Wednesday veterans’ meals at the lodge. 

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Written by Char Fisher

Lakeland Lodge made a donation to the James A. Haley VA Hospital specifically targeted to the homeless veterans they serve. The immediate need was for athletic shoes, rain jackets, toothpaste, toothbrushes, bar soap and baby wipes. The donation worth approximately $850 included 39 pairs of shoes, 13 rain jackets, 27 packs of baby wipes, 93 bars of soap, 68 toothbrushes, 64 boxes of toothpaste, 33 packs of antibacterial wipes and 20 pairs of socks. An additional 32 personal care kits were donated from member Dan Wait’s Sandpiper community. The kits were also tailored for the homeless veterans and included toiletries, socks, hats and puzzle books. Steve Masterton, PER and John “Mac” McArthur delivered the donations to the hospital.

Pictured are Marty, VA Hospital Voluntary Services; John McArthur, Lakeland Elk; Janice Rodriguez, VA Hospital Voluntary Services; and Steve Masterton, PER.

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Written by Char Fisher

Lakeland Elks Lodge #1291 donated 40 cans of creamer, a box of sugar packets, two boxes of sweetener, 10 cans of coffee, eight cases of water and 15 cases of soda to the Lakeland Veterans Center. The facility does not have a provision for this in their budget. This donation will be used by local veterans during group and individual counseling sessions and takes the burden off the veterans to provide it. Pictured at the donation presentation are Char Fisher, Veterans Lodge Chairman; Kristen Francks, Veterans Lodge Co-Chairman; and Sherri’ Alip, Veterans Center office manager.

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Written by Jan Belland

Inverness Elks Lodge #2522 used their Elks National Foundation Freedom Grant to treat some Purple Heart recipients, members of the Aaron Weaver Chapter of the Military Order of the Purpleheart (MOPH), to a half-day guided fishing outing out of Homosassa, Fla. The lodge with assistance from some local businesses provided the participants fishing shirts depicting the joint initiative between the Elks and the MOPH. After the outing, the participants and volunteers were treated to a fish fry prepared by the guides with the help of several lodge members. Awards were provided for the biggest fish, most fish and the fisherman voted the best sport by the guides. Richard Hunt from the MOPH was the unanimous winner of the alternative sport award, a badminton set. The guides felt he might want to hang up his rod and reel and break out the rackets.

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Written by Pam Croy

Pam Croy has been doing pet sharing with her dogs for more than 20 years. She has been sharing at the Gainesville VA hospital’s community living center, their psych ward and at one of their halfway houses for the past 10 years. Pet sharing has many benefits, especially for veterans suffering from PTSD. The following is written by Croy and occurred at the psych ward with her Great Pyrenees dog, Baloo.

The sign on the door stated "group room – welcome." I opened the door to darkness, no lighting at all. Then a small figure moved over in the corner of the room. She stood up and came our way, 110 lbs. soaking wet, a cap of soft gray-black curls. She moved with the grace of a cat. She walked to within 10 feet of us, stopped, went back and sat down, then she got up again, and came all the way up to Baloo. She gave him a small pet, then walked away. We told her goodbye and left, walking on down the hallway. We noticed that we were being followed by this same woman. A tiny voice asked, "May I tell Baloo goodbye?"

She walked up, the obedience exercise of catching the dog's eye and repeating, “ME! ME! ME!” as you tap your nose, was her first action. Then she reached over and ran her hands along the dog's body, a dog handler or a dog judge perhaps at one time. Then she hesitated, stepped back and stood there for a moment. She then kneeled, threw both arms around the dog and held on. Baloo froze in place as he had been taught. She did this three times. Then she started to walk off, turned back, and threw her arms around the dog one last time. The lady then got up and walked back to her room, never looking back.

What emotions did she transmit to my dog? What was she thinking? Did Baloo give her a sense of peace? Baloo was exhausted when we left and slept all the way home!